Sheriff's Report - May 6, 2008

A four-wheel ATV mule and trailer valued at $12,000 were reported stolen from Ben Withers Construction in Panacea on Wednesday, April 30, said Wakulla County Sheriff David Harvey.

Locks on the gates to the property had been cut, and were taken into evidence by Deputy Lindsay Allen.  An employee of Withers said that he went to the shop around 10:30 that night to get ice and saw a blue 1980s-model truck backed into the lot with a trailer. He said he saw a former Withers employee with a blond female inside the truck. The employee said he did not see the former employee take the trailer, but did see him attach the trailer to the truck.

Meanwhile, a concerned citizen had called in to report that a trailer with an ATV mule had been parked at his neighbor's house in the Lake Ellen area after midnight. The citizen was suspicious, he said, because the neighbor couldn't afford such a nice ATV. Deputy John Zarate called the citizen back and asked if the trailer was still there, but the trailer had been pulled off by a Chevy van at 7 a.m. that morning.  The case is still under investigation.

In other cases this week: 

Jail inmate Kenneth Miller was charged with attempting to smuggle contraband into a detention facility, a third-degree felony, for trying to bring in tobacco that he had swallowed in a plastic bag.

Corrections officers reportedly had word that Miller, who is a trustee at the animal shelter, had some contraband. When Miller came into the jail, on Wednesday, April 30, he was strip searched and then put in a holding cell for monitoring. Sometime later, officers allegedly saw Miller slip something into a foam cup - it was retreived and turned out to be cigarette tobacco. After being taken from the holding cell, Miller allegedly vomited more tobacco. 

Miller, 28, reportedly admitted to officers that he found some tobacco that had been left for another inmate and decided to take it for himself.  He hid the tobacco under a trailer, and took a small amount of the tobacco and placed it in a piece of plastic bag and swallowed it. While in the holding cell, he said he threw it up involuntarily.  In October, Miller was ordered to serve a year and a day in jail for trying to smuggle in tobacco. 

Gene Cutchin reported the theft of a wooden deck on Sunday, May 4, from the back of mobile home he purchased on Solomon Drive. Cutchin said he believed that the former tenant of the mobile home may have taken the deck, which he valued at $2,500.  A neighbor confirmed that he saw the former tenant's son breaking down the deck, but did not witness any wood removed from the property.

Deputy Andree Brown noted that the tenant may have constructed the deck before the mobile home was sold and may have believed it was his property to take. The matter is under investigation.  

A resident reported a motor stolen off his sailboat where it was moored behind his house on the St. Marks River. On Sunday, May 4, the resident saw the motor secured to the transom of his boat at 11 a.m., but when he returned around 6 p.m., it was missing.  The motor was a gray 31/2-horsepower Nissan with a reported value of $800.

Deputy Lindsay Allen investigated a report on Monday, May 5, of the theft of a purse from a home on Cayuse Drive. The victim said that, on Friday, May 2, she went to take a shower and left her front door open. When she got out of the shower, her purse was gone.  At first she thought she might have just misplaced the purse, according to the report.  Items in the missing purse included a wallet with a Social Security card, a checkbook, and two prescription bottles, one with Hydrocodone, and the other with Xanax.  The case was closed due to a lack of information.

The Wakulla County Sheriff's Office received more than 1,100 calls for service this week.

Note to readers: The people reported as charged with crimes are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.